Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone
For the technique used in the video games, please see Dead Zone (technique). For the void itself, please see Dead Zone (void). Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone (ドラゴンボールZ　オラの悟飯を返せッ!!, Doragon Bōru Zetto: Ora no Gohan o Kaese!!; lit. "Dragon Ball Z: Return my Gohan!!") is the first Dragon Ball Z movie. It was released between episodes 11 and 12, with it premiering at the 1989 Toei Cartoon Festival (along with three other movies from the Akuma-kun, Himitsu no Akko-chan, and Mobile Cop Jiban series). It was released in 1989 by Toei Animation, originally titled simply Dragon Ball Z The Movie during its theatrical release. It was then dubbed in English by the Canadian company Ocean Group for the American company FUNimation Entertainment, the title being changed to "Dead Zone". It was then re-dubbed by FUNimation itself in 2005. Summary The movie features the villain, Garlic Jr., who is on a vengeful quest to become Guardian of Earth. In order to have his wish fulfilled, his servants kidnap Goku's son Gohan to get the Dragon Ball he is carrying. Garlic Jr. then summons Shenron using the Dragon Balls and wishes for eternal life. Goku must combine forces with his archrival Piccolo Jr. in order to save the world. With Piccolo's, and later Krillin's, help, Goku is able to defeat Garlic Jr.'s evil servants and rescue Gohan. Feeling responsible for Garlic Jr., Kami arrives and confronts him. However, he is unable to defeat him, and in a last ditch effort Kami decides to sacrifice himself to kill Garlic Jr. However, Piccolo and Goku arrive in time to take on Garlic Jr., but after a long hard battle, they find themselves defeated and exhausted. Garlic Jr. opens a Dead Zone portal in order to trap everyone within. With time running out, and with the Earth moments away from being sucked into oblivion, Goku realizes that the massive dormant power that lies within his four year old son is Earth's last hope against Garlic Jr.'s Dead Zone. Gohan's hidden power appears, and he sends Garlic Jr. into the portal, trapping him inside, and saving the planet. Characters Heroes *Goku *Piccolo *Gohan *Krillin *Kami Villains *Garlic Jr. *Ginger *Nicky *Sansho Other *Chi-Chi *Ox-King *Bulma *Master Roshi *Turtle Major battles *Piccolo vs. Ginger, Nicky & Sansho *Chi-Chi vs. Ginger *Goku vs. Ginger, Nicky & Sansho *Kami vs. Garlic Jr. *Piccolo vs. Sansho *Goku vs. Ginger & Nicky *Goku & Piccolo vs. Garlic Jr. *Goku vs. Piccolo *Gohan vs. Garlic Jr. Timeline placement Dead Zone is the only film that takes place after the end of Dragon Ball and before the beginning of Dragon Ball Z. The events of this movie can be placed into the series timeline between episodes "The End, The Beginning" of the Piccolo Jr. Saga and "The New Threat" of the Vegeta Saga. Releases The movie was originally released on both VHS and Laserdisc in Japan. They were in a 16:9 format, cropped from its original 4:3 format. It was then released later in Japan as part of the well-known Dragon Box sets, remastered from its original film masters and in a 16:9 anamorphic widescreen format. There was much controversy from fans over the decision to crop the movies from its original 4:3 format. The controversy died down when Toei Animation announced that the films were originally animated for widescreen viewing. The boxed set was released (containing all four Dragon Ball and all thirteen Dragon Ball Z movies) with great critical and audience reception. In the United States, it was released in March 17, 1997, shortly before the release of the second movie, Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest, and the third movie, Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, by FUNimation Entertainment and Pioneer, in VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD. The three movies were uncut, and contained both the Ocean Group dub and the original Japanese dub. They were also released for the first time in a 4:3 format."Dragon Ball Z - The Movie - Dead Zone (1996)", amazon.com The three movies were re-released together by Pioneer on October 9, 2001, in a three-movie boxset, called "Dragon Ball Z - Movie Boxed Set"."Dragon Ball Z - Movie Boxed Set (Dead Zone/The Tree of Might/The World's Strongest)", amazon.com After FUNimation acquired the exclusive DVD rights for the first three movies from Pioneer in 2004, they released Dead Zone again in May 31, 2005, containing a brand-new in-house dub and the original Japanese dub."Dragon Ball Z - The Movie - Dead Zone (Uncut)", amazon.com However, it was later re-released in November 14, 2006, along with the The World's Strongest and The Tree of Might movies, in a "First Strike" DVD boxset."Dragon Ball Z: First Strike (2006)", amazon.com FUNimation re-released this film in May 27, 2008, alongside The World's Strongest, digitally remastered and in a 16:9 format, as a "Double Feature" DVD and Blu-ray.Dragon Ball Z Double Feature: Dead Zone / World's Strongest (Steelbook) (1989)", amazon.com The movie has been re-released again by FUNimation on November 1, 2011, in a five movie pack, along with The World's Strongest, The Tree of Might, Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug, and Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge. However, these are the same disks that are in the double features. Dead Zone along with The World's Strongest and The Tree of Might have been re-released yet again by FUNimation on August 13th, 2013, this time exactly the way they were when they were aired on Toonami, as a part of the Dragon Ball Z: Rock the Dragon Edition. TanookiKuribo2.jpg|''Dead Zone'' Dragon Box DVD (2006) Dragonball Z Movie 5 Pack.jpg|Movie 5 Pack (2011) Cast Music *Opening Theme (OP) *# "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" (Chara Hetchara) (OP animation 1) *#* Lyrics: Yukinojō Mori, Music: Chiho Kiyooka, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama *#** Song Lyrics *Insertion Song (IN) *# "Tenka-ichi Gohan"; 天下一ゴハン (The World's Greatest Gohan) *#* Lyrics: Sakiko Iwamuro, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Masako Nozawa (Son Gohan) *#** Song Lyrics *Ending Theme (ED) *# "Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Pawā!"; でてこいとびきりZENKAIパワー! (Come On Out, Incredible ZENKAI Power!) *#* Lyrics: Toshihisa Arakawa, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: MANNA *#** Song Lyrics *Additional orchestral music composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi Reception Anime News Network grades the movie an overall C+. Trivia *Flashbacks in the Dragon Ball Z episodes "The Heavens Tremble", "Black Fog of Terror" and "Fight with Piccolo" feature animated footage from Dead Zone. *This is the only movie to feature the ending theme song from the TV series ("Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Pawā!"). All other movies feature original songs as the ending themes. However, the animated sequence at the end is slightly different from the one in the series: this is just Gohan running around on the planet, and features none of the "cutaway" scenes from the series (Yajirobe with Kami, the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, etc.). Gohan dressed as the Monkey King at the end is still there, though. *This is one of the only post Dragon Ball entries in the series where Goku uses the Power Pole in combat, along with The World's Strongest. * Despite being released under the Ultimate Uncut Special Edition line, the FUNimation version is actually more edited than the original Pioneer Entertainment release. **While the movie itself was fully uncut, the Special Edition version used the wrong opening animation. This was corrected in the double feature release. **This is the only version ever to be shown in 4:3, in both the United States and Japan. Every other release, including Japanese releases were cropped to 16:9 *In the Remastered Uncut edition of this movie, the insert song was replaced in the English audio while in earlier FUNimation releases of this movie had kept it in. This also goes for The World's Strongest which also had its insert song replaced in the remastered uncut English dub. Though if using the audio for English with Japanese score, then the songs are there. *Garlic Jr. and cronies try to kill Piccolo, and know that doing so will kill Kami as well, but they do not seem to know that killing them will cause the Dragon Balls (which Garlic Jr. needs to be immortal) to vanish. *There are a few discrepancies. For example, Krillin was introduced to Gohan in the movie, yet he did not know who he was in the beginning of Dragon Ball Z. Additionally, in "Unlikely Alliance" ("The World's Strongest Team" in the original dub), Goku comments on his discovery that Piccolo trains with weighted clothes; however, he makes the same comments in Dead Zone. Gallery References External links *Watch Dragon Ball Z - Dead Zone Category:Films Category:Dragon Ball Z films